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High school and college students have a lot to distract them from school. They have a lot going on! Extracurriculars, college or job applications, and friends take up a lot of time, not to mention older students are navigating levels of independence they were never granted when they were younger. With all this in mind, high school and college instructors must employ specific strategies to ensure their older students are engaged.
Danielle Bernstein, a Possip intern majoring in Human and Organizational Development and Sociology at Vanderbilt University, discusses how instructors can keep their high school and college students engaged.
This past summer, Possip published 60 ideas for how schools can engage parents. While parent engagement is critical throughout a child’s education journey, a student’s own engagement in school, their classes, and their educational development becomes more important as they get older. With more autonomy and independence, students have more of a say within and outside the classroom. Additionally, it can be difficult for instructors to balance the educational needs of every student. To assist college and high school educators, we have compiled a list of 20 resources to boost student engagement!
Emphasize Discussion Sessions
- Use open-ended questions! This encourages your students to think outside the box and lean on their creative sides.
- Think-pair-share. Give students the opportunity to develop their thoughts on their own, share them with a friend, and then deliver their ideas to the class.
- Fishbowl discussions. Divide the class into two groups, an inner circle and an outer circle. Have the inner circle discuss the topic while the outer circle observes and takes notes. After a certain time, have the circles switch! This allows every student to participate and encourages them to listen to their peers
- Host a debate! Whether it’s a science class or a history class, dividing the team into two sides and having them debate a topic can make students passionate and excited about class material.
- Four-corners activity. Delineate the four corners of the room as “agree,” “strongly agree,” “disagree,” “strongly disagree.” Then, ask the students open-ended questions and have them walk to whatever corner aligns with their opinion. This encourages students to think critically about their ideas on various topics.
Personalize Learning Paths
- Let students pick their testing format when possible. While oftentimes assignments have to be one-size-fits-all, allow students to pick their formats when you can. Some students love presenting, while others prefer to write. Others, regardless of their knowledge of the material, have extreme test anxiety. Letting them choose the format can make them more confident and comfortable.
- Allow students to pick their own topics. If you have a general assignment, like a paper on a social movement in the 1970s, give your students the flexibility to choose what social movement they write about. This will ensure they are engaged and passionate about the material.
- Give students the option of collaboration or solo work. We all have had negative group project experiences, and some of us have had one too many. Letting these students work alone can reduce their anxiety and improve their productivity.
- Provide various options for presentations. Some students are hardcore CANVA fans, while others prefer Powerpoint or Google Slides. Let your students use the technology they’re most familiar with.
- Set up a “learning playlist!” Provide students with a list of required and optional assignments, giving students a basic structure while letting them choose additional activities. This offers a sense of control while ensuring core content is covered.
Rely on Technology
- Don’t ban AI! Your students are likely using ChatGPT, and banning it does not prevent this. Rather, ChatGPT and similar AI technology should be used and encouraged as tools to enhance students’ learning.
- Use Learning Management Systems. Applications like Google Classroom and Canvas allow instructors to engage with students easily.
- Implement gamified learning platforms. My favorite classes in high school used Kahoot! religiously. Platforms that gamify learning are highly engaging and enjoyable for older students.
- Host virtual speakers. Zoom and Teams have made it much easier to host folks who are not the most geographically desirable.
- Share your slides before and after class. If you are an instructor who relies on lectures, sharing the slides with your students allows them to download slides beforehand and write their notes on the slides!
Encourage Self- and Community Reflection
- Provide rubrics for self-assessment. When students have a big assignment due, provide them with a self-assessment. This encourages them to assess their own work and progress.
- Utilize reflection journals. Encourage students to journal about their experiences and progress within the course. This makes classroom work much more meaningful and engaging.
- Make real-world connections. Remind students why the material is still relevant today.
- Provide weekly reflection prompts. My favorite “do nows” when I was a high school student were questions that prompted me to reflect on class material and my experiences in and outside the classroom. Weekly reflections encourage students to think critically about how the material relates to them.
- Personal goal-setting. At the beginning of the year or semester, have your students set goals for themselves. This way they progress through the class with specific goals in mind.
Conclusion
Engaging high school and college students is not an easy task, but by utilizing discussion-based strategies, personalized learning paths, technology tools, and self- and community reflections, instructors can ensure their students remain engaged.
